


let's not fall in love

by uchihasass



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Office AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7280488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchihasass/pseuds/uchihasass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun doesn't much care for his new neighbor. Too bad he keeps running into the man everywhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

No one ever told Baekhyun that hitting rock bottom would come with literally tasting the cold asphalt of the sidewalk concrete. But then again, if someone had, it’s unlikely he would have believed them. Never one for frivolous ideas like poetic justice, or injustice, as would probably be more apt in his case, Baekhyun would have scoffed at the idea. He always took pride in being a realist, in effortlessly dodging the swerves life threw at him, because he knew what to expect, when, and precisely why.

Evidently, in retrospect, he might have given himself a little too much credit.

He groans, licking his lower lip, the faint taste of blood souring his mood further. He tries to will himself to get up, get a fucking hold on the situation. The ghost of his dignity is furiously whispering in his ears, but just lying there—face down, ass up in the air—wallowing into the dirt seems a much more appealing alternative. It’s late and dark anyway. Nobody is around to witness the decimation of his pride and self worth. Drawing some comfort from that fact, Baekhyun’s eyes start tearing up again. Before he knows it, he is openly sobbing against the ground, hand fisted in a patch of grass close by and snot running down his chin.

There is a tight ache in his chest, almost as if his heart is shrinking, like it’s trying to pump all the love out, dispersing it to his extremities, so the feelings are dissolved, or at the very least, diluted. But it’s not working. He feels everything acutely. Memories he hasn’t had the time to consider in years resurface for no good reason.

He does manage to pick his face off the ground eventually when the gravel concrete starts getting painful against his elbows. Baekhyun sits on the sidewalk, sniffling. His eyes feel like they’re just about ready to pop out of their sockets, and his cheeks are mucky with tears that have yet to dry. He spots his vodka, discreetly stuffed in a brown paper bag around the street corner, a good few feet away. He must have dropped it when he tripped. Taking a deep, shivering breath, he finally gets up and waddles over to pick it up.

The alcohol burns against his throat and split lip. He tries to find some relief in knowing the cut is disinfected, but finds that he hardly cares. His phone keeps vibrating in his pocket. It’s either Kyungsoo or Jongin, probably both of them taking turns. He doesn’t answer.

Somehow, he ends up back where he started. He stands before the gates of his new apartment complex, taking another swig of the vodka. The neighborhood is swanky enough that the gates are electronically operated and can only be unlocked with assigned key fobs. He searches his pockets to find that he only grabbed his wallet and phone before stepping out.

“Of course,” he mutters under his breath, and dejectedly chuckles in the dark.

He walks over to the intercom. His roommates can buzz him in, but just as he’s about to punch in his apartment number, he notices a man walk up to his side, and hears the beep of a key fob. The gate rattles to life and slowly starts opening.

The man walks past him, and the first thing that catches his eye under the dim streetlamp is how tall he is. His shoulders stretch wide across a letter print reading SUPREME in bold white against a dark hoodie. Something about the picture stirs a pang of longing in him, and he steps forward without thinking twice.

“Excuse me—”

The man turns around, takes a quick look at him, and nonchalantly reaches into his pocket.

“Here you go, man.” The man has a scrunched up 1000 won bill pressed between his index and middle finger, extended out to him. For a moment, Baekhyun is so confused that he lifts an unsure hand and accepts the money.

The stranger turns back around and resumes walking into the apartment complex. It's only when he's a few steps ahead that Baekhyun realizes what just went down. He's flabbergasted, so offended that he wants to run up to this man and throw the dirty old bill back at his face.

He stomps past the gate—noisily closing now—and takes quick steps to catch up.

“Hey, wait up, wait up,” Baekhyun calls, and steps in front of the man when he doesn't halt.

“What are you doing?” The man eyes him suspiciously. “You're not supposed to be here, you know. This is a gated complex.”

Baekhyun startles at the deep timbre of the stranger’s voice. They are standing close to the main entrance, the warm orange of the foyer light illuminating his face through the glass door. He takes a moment to focus, and the only thing he sees are a pair of big eyes fixating him with unbridled animosity. His resolve to set things straight waver temporarily.

The stranger raises an eyebrow.

“What-what was this?” He finally finds the words, though even to his ears, they sound a little slurred, and not even half as assertive as he had hoped.

“Um, I don’t have any more change on me. Are you going to step out now, or do I have to call security?” He sounds wary and annoyed, and it instantly reignites Baekhyun’s ire.

“S-security? I live here!” He huffs, indignantly.

The man in front of him looks him up and down, eyes skeptically landing on the bagged vodka in his hand. Baekhyun is suddenly conscious of what he must look like. He’s been crying all day, and he’d spent the last fifteen minutes literally lying facedown on a dusty sidewalk.

“I’ve never seen you around before,” the stranger says, brows furrowed in doubt. “Look, just leave, okay? If security finds you, they might call the cops.”

“Call the cops? _Call the cops?!_ Why the hell would they do that?"

“Because you’re trespassing, and—"

"WHAT PART OF I LIVE HERE IS SO HARD FOR YOU TO WRAP YOUR BRAIN AROUND?! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?! WHY WOULD I TRESPASS AROUND MY OWN COMPLEX?” Baekhyun is yelling now, his shrill voice ringing in the cold night air. He doesn’t know what has come over him. He could very well just walk away from this man, and go back to his apartment to relieve his roommates, who must be worrying themselves silly right now. This nightmare of a day could be over just as easily as that. But he had spent the entire day crying into his pillow, lamenting over a broken heart and what a complete and utter doormat he was. Suddenly, he’s not in the mood to take shit from anyone.

He sees the man roll his eyes in response, and take his cell phone out of his hoodie. Silently, he starts calling someone, eyes holding Baekhyun’s frenzied gaze.

“Yes, is this night security? There is a homeless man here in front of the main entrance. Yes, he appears drunk and unstab—”

“Hyung!” Baekhyun whips around to see Jongin sprinting out the glass door. “Where have you been? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, can you hold for a second?” The stranger says into his phone, and looks at Jongin. “Do you know this guy?” Baekhyun senses some lingering skepticism in his words, and he is seething.

“Yes, he knows me,” Baekhyun cuts in, angrily. "I live here with him, at this overpriced fucking complex, on the eighth floor, in apartment #839. Are you satisfied yet, or would you like to go up to the leasing office and make a copy of my leasing contract for your personal records?”

“Um, what’s going on here?” Jongin asks, looking from the tall stranger to Baekhyun in confusion.

Baekhyun keeps his lips pursed and glares at the stranger, daring him to explain. The man is still frowning, but he taps his phone screen to end the call.

“Nothing.” He says, staring back at Baekhyun.

“Have a nice night, asshole.” Baekhyun fixes him with a dirty look, as the tall stranger starts walking away. His eyes linger on the SUPREME on his back, and through the haze of his tipsiness, he feels like it’s somehow goading him on.

“Hyung, where have you been?” Jongin asks, honey voice tinged in concern. “We were so worried, and you weren’t answering our calls."

Baekhyun lifts the vodka in his hand to demonstrate where’d gone off to, and takes the opportunity to swig another mouthful down. Jongin looks at him pitifully, tugging him along to the elevator.

***

“Ugh, why can’t I take a sick day?” Baekhyun moans from where he is sprawled across the couch, face buried under a blanket.

“Among other things, I’d say it’s common fucking sense not to call in sick your first day on the job,” Kyungsoo fires back, unceremoniously yanking the blanket off of him. “Especially when you are not sick."

“Hey, what are you—"

“It’s already 7:23, Baekhyun. Get your ass in the shower right now, or so help me god, I will bodily strip you and throw you in there myself.”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He isn't hungover, but there is a dull persistent pounding in the center of his forehead, and his eyes are probably swollen. Some great first impression he's going to make when he walks into his new office later, unfocused and puffy-eyed.

“About last night… I’m so sorry,” Baekhyun sighs. “That was such an overreaction.”

“You did what you had to,” Kyungsoo says, but it’s hard to miss the note of disappointment in his voice. “But for all our sakes, don’t go wandering out on your own in the middle of the night again. Please."

Baekhyun meets his roommate’s eyes and nods sheepishly. There is a glass of water and a single sleeve of Advil on top of the coffee table. He pulls himself up with some effort, and takes the remedy.

He turns the shower dial all the way to the left, and stands under the scalding hot water, letting it assault his skin. The heat combined with the almost painful water pressure proves to be a welcome distraction. As he steps out, he sees that a clean pair of dress pants, a light blue checkered shirt, and a navy blue tie have been laid out on his bed. The pants have been pristinely pressed and are still warm to touch. He starts about getting ready.

Outside, Kyungsoo and Jongin are sitting at the dining table, both looking ready to head out for work. Kyungsoo has a newspaper in front of him, but he puts it aside when he sees Baekhyun.

"You should eat something," Kyungsoo says, and gets up to grab the cereal box off the counter.

"I'd really rather not—"

Kyungsoo pours some cereal and milk into an empty bowl anyway. "Eat. Unless you want your stomach grumbling through introductions."

Baekhyun has half a mind to protest, but elects not to. He takes a seat, and quietly starts picking at the bowl in front of him.

"I can drop you off today. You're right on my way to work," Jongin offers. Again, Baekhyun wordlessly concedes, giving his younger roommate a thankful smile.

The digital clock on the stove reads 8:07 in bold red. The silence that falls is uncomfortable. He wants to reassure his roommates that he's okay, but it's far from the truth, and Baekhyun has had just about enough of white lies to last him a lifetime.

Finally, Jongin gets up from his chair and says, "I'm ready whenever you are, hyung."

Before Baekhyun can say anything, Kyungsoo gets up and clears the table, taking away his largely untouched bowl of cereal.

“I know you’re upset, but you’ve worked too hard for this. You can’t let what happened ruin everything.” Kyungsoo, astute as always, has a point.

“I know, I know.” It’s all he can say. Truth is, Baekhyun is painfully aware of just how pathetic he is for letting this affect him as much as it has. He is starting an exciting new job, one that he'd fought tooth and nail to snag. It’s the culmination of years’ worth of perseverance and painstaking hard work, and yet—here he is, mourning the loss of something he never had.

Unfortunately, his self-awareness does little to quell his heartache. If anything, it feels like someone is vigorously rubbing salt over a raw, open wound.

“You’ll do great,” Jongin tells him, and Baekhyun tries to find some confidence in his roommates’ encouragement.

He’ll do well, yes. He has to.

***

Baekhyun never forgets anything. Everything he encounters is somehow saved in the recesses of his mind in bursts of bold, vivid details.

The tangy taste of unripe mangoes at his grandma’s farm just how he used to like them, and the sharp dizziness that made his world tilt after Yixing accidentally slammed his badminton racquet against the side of his face during eighth grade PE, the first and only digits he ever scored, while on a drunken dare at his dingy college bar—and the judgmental eyes on the stranger from last night, that just so happen to be staring back at him from across the conference room right now.

“Park Chanyeol is the Tech Lead on this project, Baekhyun. As Project Manager, you will be working closely with him to ensure timely code delivery and oversee production deployment.”

The stranger—or rather _Chanyeol_ —looks about as pleased about this turnout as he feels, but at least Chanyeol's mouth is not hanging open as Baekhyun belatedly realizes his is when Junmyeon worriedly asks, “Are you okay, Baekhyun?"

“Um, yes, yeah. I’m fantastic, never been better!” He beams at Junmyeon, the coordinator who had received him in the lobby and brought him up to a conference room full of unfamiliar faces. Save for one, of course.

He turns and raises a clammy hand toward Chanyeol. “Byun Baekhyun, it’s nice to meet you."

He is half expecting Chanyeol to dramatically throw his chair back and storm out of the room, declaring he has no interest in working with people who yell at strangers for no good reason.

Baekhyun is hyper aware of the lone bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck, as his hand awkwardly hangs in the air. Just as he’s about to let his hand fall to the side and act like he isn’t actively hoping for the ground to split open and swallow him whole, Chanyeol takes it into a firm grip.

“Likewise,” he says, tersely.

Chanyeol’s hand is the kind of warm that he would find disarming and comfortable in any other situation or person. As things stand, the way his own hand seems to completely disappear within his strong hold somehow makes Baekhyun feel even smaller. Chanyeol lets go a moment later.

“Over there, we have the rest of the team.” Junmyeon points to Chanyeol’s right, obliviously continuing on with the introductions. “Jongdae and Sehun are our onsite developers, they work under Chanyeol’s supervision. Minseok is our only Test Analyst, but the very best at what he does, so we've really never had need for anyone else."

Baekhyun nods at the men and goes around the room, shaking hands with all of them.

Junmyeon is positively radiant as he swiftly brings up a powerpoint presentation on the projector and starts talking about technical specifications and budget constraints and everything in between. It’s all a bit too much for an on boarding session, and Baekhyun wonders why the entire team has been called. Surely, they’re all familiar with the work they’re doing, so why take precious hours out of their day to drill their heads with information they most likely already know like the back of their hands?

Warm, big hands.

Baekhyun wills himself to focus, anxious he is going to mess up on his very first day. But then, he starts thinking about how Chanyeol probably _expects_ him to mess up, being that he’d only just yesterday witnessed what Baekhyun was now starting to realize was an outburst that had long been in the making. Then, he resigns himself to the possibility that the man either considered him extremely ill-suited for this position, or at the very least, thought he had some issues, which would keep him from doing his job well. Baekhyun didn’t want to ponder on the fact that his own opinion on the matter fell somewhere in between that spectrum.

Before long, Junmyeon is wrapping up the session and thanking everyone for joining. As people start filing out of the room, Baekhyun remains seated, head rigidly turned in the coordinator's direction to avoid meeting unwelcome eyes.

“Ah, Chanyeol?” Junmyeon seems unaware of Baekhyun’s expectant gaze, busy fiddling with the little remote control in his hand instead. “Do you mind showing Baekhyun to his cube? I’m not sure what I did, but it looks like the projector is broken again. I need to figure this out before Resource Management comes at me again like last time."

Baekhyun doesn’t realize he is holding his breath, as he helplessly waits between the two men. He chances a glance at Chanyeol, and immediately regrets it when he’s met with the same animosity and skepticism he’d seen knitted between the man's brows the night before.

Junmyeon remains entirely clueless, as he swings the remote control in front of the projector. Baekhyun can’t decide if he’s grateful or annoyed that he continues to solely bear the brunt of the tension in the room. He is just about to speak up and offer to wait around for Junmyeon to finish when the plump-cheeked coordinator lands the final blow.

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol,” Junmyeon says, banging the projector a couple of times. "You know I wouldn’t ask if Baekhyun wasn’t sitting next to you.”

Baekhyun feels his stomach drop. To say the universe might be conspiring against him may not be too wild of a conjecture at this point.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is unbeta'd. apologies in advance.


	2. Chapter 2

Baekhyun’s new cube comes with a spectacular view of the downtown skyline and a much less appealing one of the back of Park Chanyeol’s head.

Chanyeol hadn’t said much when he walked Baekhyun to their workstation. And Baekhyun, for all his resolve to broach the subject and clarify he wasn’t actually a complete lunatic, had also kept mum. He wants to spit it out and be over with it, but the many ways in which Chanyeol could react is proving to be quite a debilitating thought. He’d half hoped Chanyeol wouldn't remember him, but the cold shoulder he’d been given from the get go has made it hard to hold on to that possibility. Baekhyun had been the tipsy one, after all. If he’d recognized Chanyeol the moment he set eyes on him, there was no way Chanyeol didn’t realize the short, angry man from the night before was him. 

 The floor is buzzing with the constant clacking of people typing on their keyboards and a muffled cacophony of phone conversations that he can barely make out. He likes that things seem really fast paced around the office, but he’s still waiting for his desktop and network ID to be set up, so he has little to do but sit around twiddling his thumb. Chanyeol is furiously typing behind him, busy with some coding issue that needs an urgent fix. He’d heard Jongdae and Sehun talk in hushed tones on their way out of the conference room, something about a bug that the production team had found in the code. The bug had been missed by not only the development team but also Minseok, their Test Analyst. Being familiar with how things are run in a software development cycle, Baekhyun knew Chanyeol’s team was facing a mild crisis situation right now.

Fueled by his innate need to prove helpful, Baekhyun finds himself blurting out, “Can I do anything to help?"

“You don’t even have your laptop yet,” Chanyeol says, continuing to type without missing a beat.

“That’s right,” he says, and curses himself internally. Perhaps his silence would be most useful in this particular situation, he considers in hindsight.

He swivels round in his chair, and looks onto his empty workstation. The space is enough for a couple of monitors to be set up, and then some. There is about ten feet between his desk and Chanyeol’s, which is plenty for them both to not awkwardly bump into one another while coming and going. It’s definitely a step up from his last office, where the water cooler station was placed right by his corner cube. He’d take his current twenty-fifth floor view of impressive skyscrapers over having to endure endless stream of useless office chatter any day.

The IT guy drops by not long after, and Baekhyun’s workstation is all set up and ready to go just as noon hits. His inbox has been bombarded by a dozen emails from Junmyeon—compliance training reminder, details on how to request application accesses, and the likes. Atop the pile of Junmyeon’s on-boarding related emails, received exactly ten minutes prior, is a calendar invite from Kim Jongdae subject lined “WEEKLY ROAST SESSION”. He groans inwardly wanting nothing to do with an event where roasting would be involved in any capacity. He hesitates but clicks on _Tentative Acceptance_ , just because hitting _Decline_  right off feels too brash for his first day.

“Ah, Baekhyun. I see you’ve got your laptop and monitors set up!” Junmyeon is standing at the edge of his cube, looking just as bright as he had when he welcomed Baekhyun in the lobby that morning. 

"Yes,” Baekhyun says, slowly realizing Junmyeon is going to be one of those people who are physically and mentally exhausting to keep up with. “Yeah, the Tech guy came by and worked his magic. I was just looking through your on boarding emails, actually."

“Great!” Junmyeon exclaims, and turns to Chanyeol. "Did Chanyeol give you a tour of the floor? Show you where the stationary cabinet and coffee machines are at?”

“You didn’t ask me to show him around,” Chanyeol says, before Baekhyun is able to squeeze in a word.

“Yeah, but it’s his first time on the floor. You could’ve at least shown him where the restrooms are at.” Even expressing his dissent, Junmyeon has a smile plastered on his face. From a distance, it must look like Junmyeon is talking about how pleasant the weather is today or something of the sort. That fixture of a smile on his face is more than a little disconcerting.

“You want to sit here and analyze this piece of source code while I go show him around?” Chanyeol snaps, swiveling around in his chair to look at Junmyeon. 

An uncomfortable moment passes with Junmyeon dropping his smile and glaring at Chanyeol. Then, just as fast as it was gone, the smile is back on like clockwork, the transition almost imperceptible.

“Baekhyun!” Junmyeon turns to him so fast Baekhyun has no time to fix his bewildered face. “Why don’t you come with me? I’ll show you around, and we can grab a bite if you haven’t eaten yet.”

“Yes, yeah, let’s do that.” Baekhyun almost leaps from his chair, eager to get away from the tension around them.

“You keep working on that source code, Chanyeol. We shouldn’t be distracting you during this critical time.” Junmyeon throws him a thumbs up and starts walking away.

Baekhyun follows Junmyeon out of the cube, but not before sparing a quick glance in Chanyeol’s direction. Their eyes meet for a brief second, and Baekhyun automatically gives him a small smile, which is not returned. 

Junmyeon makes good on his promise of showing Baekhyun around. Last stop on his unofficial tour is the cafeteria on the basement level, where they decide to grab lunch.

“I must warn you, Baekhyun. Everything they have here is strictly mediocre at best, but nothing can beat the convenience of just taking an elevator down to grab a quick bite when you’re pressed on time, you know.” 

“Absolutely! And it couldn’t possibly be any worse than the cafeteria at my last office. Trust me, mediocre is an upgrade for me.”

They get their food and sit down to eat. Junmyeon is good at keeping up conversation, so Baekhyun doesn’t find himself stressing over things to talk about. It isn’t until he’s almost done with his turkey wrap that Junmyeon brings up what happened.

“I must apologize, Baekhyun. Our team is just under a lot of pressure right now,”Junmyeon begins, still sporting that smile. There is a slight furrow in his brows now though, which Baekhyun picks up as an indication of the man's sincerity.

“I understand. It’s nothing you have to apologize for,” Baekhyun says, trying to elevate his guilt. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to help with some things around here, so we don’t have people killing each other."

Junmyeon stares at him for a moment, expression blank. Then, as if a light switch has been turned on inside his head, he is grinning again, slapping Baekhyun’s arm across the table, “You’re a funny guy, aren’t you, Baekhyun? Good, good, you’ll fit right in with us."

Baekhyun laughs nervously, and Junmyeon must be able to sense some of his discomfort. “I hope you don’t mind Chanyeol. He’s a bit... prickly, but brilliant guy, absolutely brilliant!"

“Oh, okay,” Baekhyun says. “I wasn’t actually sure if we’d gotten off on the wrong foot or something.” He _knows_  they’d gotten off on the wrong foot, but Junmyeon doesn’t need to know that.

“No, no, no.” Junmyeon is shaking his head. “He’s like that with everyone. A tough wall to crack, but really he’s one of our best. It might just take a bit more patience to make things work with him. That’s all."

“Good to know. Thanks for the heads up, Junmyeon.”

Baekhyun’s mind is at two different places now—worrying about the prospect of working with a difficult colleague and delivering an apology to the same colleague, which could potentially make the difficult colleague even more difficult to work with.  

Baekhyun smiles at Junmyeon, and even with conscious effort, the corners his mouth are twitching. He wonders how Junmyeon is able to put that picture perfect facade on so easily for all the world to see.   

*** 

When Baekhyun gets back to his cube, Chanyeol is nowhere to be seen. His backpack and coffee mug are still at his desk, so it’s safe to assume he hasn’t left for the day. His laptop is missing along with him, so likely he’s at a meeting. 

Baekhyun spends the rest of the afternoon studying project materials and putting in all his application access requests to the DBA. He ends up printing a couple of Business Requirement Documents to review at home. There should be no rest for the new, and it’ll be a good distraction from everything he doesn’t want to be thinking about anyway. Chanyeol doesn’t come back till Baekhyun is packing up to leave at the end of the day.

“Oh hi!” Baekhyun says, when he sees the man rushing into his chair.

“Hey,” Chanyeol spares him a cursory glance, but says nothing more. It’s half past 5, but it doesn’t look like Chanyeol is ready to leave just yet. He sets his laptop on the docking station, and starts typing fast as soon as his monitor displays the endless lines of code in UltraEdit that he had open on the laptop screen.

“Staying late?” Baekhyun asks, hoping to keep him engaged. Most people had filtered out of their cubes when the clock struck 5, so the floor is practically empty. This might be as good a time as any for that apology.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol responds, eyes glued to his monitor.

“Um,” Baekhyun starts, telling himself he just needs to do this once and then it’s over. Maybe it won’t be so bad, he rationalizes, setting things straight and starting on a clean slate are all good things. “I, uh, I owe you an apology about last night. I-I don’t know what I was thinking, to be honest. Clearly, I was not in my right mind, so, um, I just wanted to say I’m-I’m sorry."

Chanyeol stops typing and slowly swivels around in his chair to turn to Baekhyun, fixing him with a none too pleased stare. 

“Sorry for creating a drunken ruckus in public or calling me an asshole?” 

Baekhyun winces. He is not sure what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t for Chanyeol to be so forward. He feels the urge to clarify that he wasn’t actually drunk, tipsy at most, but catches himself upon realizing that would probably make him look worse. Blaming his errant behavior on inebriation might just be the _marginally_  better option, the lesser of two evils.

“Um, for… both?” He offers, lamely.

Chanyeol scoffs, still staring at him. It rubs Baekhyun the wrong way, but he’d rather just get this over with and go home at this point.

“There’s no excuse for the way I acted. I’m, I-,” Baekhyun sighs, and runs his hand through his hair. “I was just having a really bad day, and I took it out on you, which was not cool. I’m not, I’m not usually like that.”

Chanyeol considers him for a second. “Whatever. As long as you do your job, I don’t care what kind of shit you get up to on your own time.”

With that, Chanyeol turns his back to him, eyes and attention back on his monitor.

Baekhyun knows he should be relieved, but there is an unshakeable bad taste left in his mouth in the aftermath. Yes, Chanyeol had _sorta_ accepted his apology, but he’d also rejected the idea that it had been a one off, isolated incident not representative of Baekhyun's personal character.

_I don’t care what kind of shit you get up to on your own time._

Baekhyun got up to perfectly dignified activities on his own time, thank you very much. Well. That wasn’t entirely true, but he was no less dignified than your average twenty-six year old millennial, which had got to count for something.

Masking his annoyance at how the conversation had played out, Baekhyun sweeps his desk one last time and starts to leave.

“Have a good evening, then,” he says, with a slight wave of a hand even though Chanyeol isn’t looking at him.

Chanyeol hums in response, eyes not straying from his laptop.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and walks out. Good thing he doesn’t have to apologize for still thinking the man’s an asshole.

*** 

Jongin has the most convincing puppy face ever known to mankind, so when the kid pouts and insists that they go check out the local bar scene to get a feel of potential neighborhood hangouts, shooting him down is beyond Baekhyun. He should really stay home and study the documents he’d printed to bring along with him, but winding down with a chilled IPA sounds so much better. Kyungsoo is similarly resigned to the youngest’s whims, so the three roommates find themselves in a relatively upscale bar only a couple of blocks down from their complex. 

“Okay, but seriously. Would it have killed him to be a little polite? A simple ’Thanks, you too’ would have sufficed, but apparently it’s too much to ask for.” Baekhyun is running on his third bottle. He can feel his inhibition slowly diffusing along with the knots on his back.    

“I still can’t believe that guy’s your boss, hyung. Small world, huh?” Jongin cackles, taking a sip of his rum and coke. 

“Wha—?” Baekhyun blanches. “He’s not my boss, Jongin. I’m the Project Manager, and he’s the Tech Lead. We work together on the same level.” 

“Why do you care so much then?"

Baekhyun’sa little irritated that he even has to explain, and they aren’t readily affronted by Chanyeol on his behalf.“I care because the man does not need to be my boss to make my life a living hell. Haven’t you heard what they say? Your job is only as good as the people you work with, and I will be working with him very closely.” 

“Which is all to say Baekhyun can’t stand anyone _not_  liking him, and he will do anything within his means to make people believe the sun shines out of his ass,” Kyungsoo says, his first real contribution to the conversation. Things have remained quite tense between them, and Baekhyun senses the tension is finally starting to spill over the brim.  

Baekhyun glares at him. “And what’s wrong with that? What if I want everyone to like me? Is it a crime now to be nice and expect to be graced with the same courtesy in return?"

Kyungsoo laughs, a bitter sound cutting through the background chatter in the bar.“But it does not end at being nice, does it, Baekhyun?"

“What the hell are you talking about?" 

“Kris.” Kyungsoo meets Baekhyun’s eyes finally, looking completely unremorseful.

“Hyung,” Jongin grabs Kyungsoo’s arm.

“I don’t want to talk about this right now,” Baekhyun declares, tearing his gaze away from Kyungsoo.

“Big surprise there,” Kyungsoo says, mockingly. “Of course, you don’t want to talk about it, so we can all pretend like nothing’s happened until you fancy yourselfanother breakdown and set out in the middle of the night to look for booze or whatever else it is you find solace in these days.”

“I already said I was sorry about that—”

“Yeah, well, sorry doesn’t cut it anymore.” Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, and continues, “Why do you always do this to yourself?"

“Hyung—"

“What exactly did I do? Please enlighten me."

“Baekhyun hyung, why don’t we step out for some fresh air—"

“Things could’ve been different with Kris, you know that. It could’ve all worked out. What are you so afraid of, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun finds himself laughing, a hollow and condescending chuckle. “That’s really rich coming from someone who refuses to acknowledge Jongin’s feelings. Maybe you should be asking yourself that question, huh." 

Baekhyun knows he’s overstepped the line the second he utters the words. An uncomfortable silence falls over the table until Kyungsoo pushes his chair back with a loud screech and gets up. “You know what? Forget I said anything.”

He’s out the door so fast Baekhyun doesn’t even get a chance to think about apologizing. He realizes Jongin is looking at him, kind eyes always full of concern.

“You should go after him,” Baekhyun says, sighing into the cup of his palms. 

“Are you going to be okay?"

“Yeah. Just go, Jongin.”

“I’m sorry, hyung.” And the boy practically runs out of there, leaving Baekhyun alone with a pounding headache much like the one he’d woken up with that morning.  

*** 

Because he must keep adding to the string of bad ideas he’s had in the past few days, Baekhyun gets drunk after Jongin leaves.

He’s standing in front of the gate of his complex, his world tilting to one side then another with each passing moment. At least, he has his key fob on him this time, so he’s able to open the gate. He waddles over to the lobby and is waiting for the elevator when he hears the front door open. 

Chanyeol is walking toward him, still in his work attire, looking tired as all hell. 

“Are you just getting back from the office?” Baekhyun asks, incredulously. 

Chanyeol eyes him suspiciously. “Are you drunk?"

“No! Maybe? I think, yes.” Baekhyun giggles, and whispers, conspiratorially, “You know what’s funny? I wasn’t drunk last night, but I think I’ve definitely done it tonight.”

Chanyeol is giving him the same judgmental look Baekhyun is becoming too familiar with.

“You think I’m a mess,” He sighs, sadly. “I guess you’ve got that right. I _am_ a mess, a certified mess! It’s pretty indisputable at this point.”

He tries to step closer to Chanyeol, but almost trips over his own leg. Chanyeol’s arms spring out to steady him, and Baekhyun hears him swear.

The elevator dings at that moment, the doors opening slowly. Baekhyun wobbles forward holding on to Chanyeol’s arms, and watches him press 8 for the floor.

“You know, you’re almost as tall as Kris,” Baekhyun says, leaning on Chanyeol’s shoulder. His chest suddenly feels heavy, but he tries to shake it off. “But you’re so prickly!” 

“What?” He hears Chanyeol exclaim. Baekhyun giggles, feeling triumphant about wringing some sort of a reaction out of him. 

“Prickly,” He mumbles, again. The lighting in the elevator isn’t nearly as bright as the lobby, and Baekhyun struggles to keep his eyes open. “Why are you so prickly, Chanyeol?”

He thinks he hears Chanyeol say something, but he can’t make the words out. Baekhyun is so tired. He is going to close his eyes for just a second.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is as big of a mess as baekhyun's life. and i'm not even drunk.


End file.
